A 19-year-old woman was found dead, and a 15-year-old girl is recovering from a graze wound, per police, after a shooting in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood.
Cleveland Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert just after 1 a.m. Sunday at a home on Gertrude Avenue near East 71st Street.
The medical examiner's office identified the 19-year-old as Crystal Pittman.
Cleveland Police said they have a person of interest in the shooting, but not in custody at this time.
"We believe that there was some type of interaction either right inside or right outside the home, and the suspect or the suspects fired what we believe multiple shots towards the victims," Cleveland Police Sgt. Freddy Diaz said.
Virginia Johnson lives next door and says she was awakened by about 10 gunshots.
"My reaction right away was kind of like with this neighborhood, it’s what you would expect," Johnson said.
Johnson said she did not know Pittman well, but remembers her as being a kind person.
"I didn’t realize she was that young. I have a child of that age," Johnson said.
The shooting in Slavic Village falls in Cleveland Councilman Kevin Bishop's Ward. He's still waiting to be briefed about what happened.
"Our young girls as a victim of gun violence in communities. Anywhere in the community, when a young girl and teenagers are victims of gun violence, it’s just unthinkable and unimaginable," Bishop said.
Myesha Watkins with Cuyahoga County's Office of Violence Prevention says often, women and girls fall through the cracks of violence because it's not the typical headline, and usually it's interpersonal or domestic.
"I’m hoping that as a woman who lives in our county, when I hear something like that, it’s a cause for concern, like what do we need to do to protect girls?" Watkins said.
One approach in this case, says Watkins, is to connect her office with Cleveland organizations to understand what may be an underlying issue.
"So we can look into what does it look like when trends are going the other way, towards a gender that specifically has not been victimized in community violence," Watkins said.
Watkins has been in her new position with Cuyahoga County since last August.
Former Cleveland Peacemakers Myesha Watkins begins new role in Cuyahoga County.
News 5 Investigators did reach Pittman's family, who said they are still processing and grieving.
"I would like to send my love and my heart out to this family and all families impacted by the disease of gun violence," Watkins said.
